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Football: Loveland opens playoffs with impressive win over Ponderosa

Indians pound way to 31-6 victory

By Mike Brohard

Sports Editor

Posted:
11/10/2017 09:55:18 PM MST

Loveland's Zach Weinmaster steps into the end zone for one of his three 1-yard touchdown runs in Friday's 31-6 win over Ponderosa at Patterson Stadium to open the 4A playoffs. Weinmaster had 41 carries for 194 yards in the win. (Lauren Cordova / Loveland Reporter-Herald)

The message was clear.

For Ponderosa it was painful, but for the Loveland football team, it was delivered with perfect diction Friday night at Patterson Stadium.

This is what we do. This is who we do it with. Stop it.

Loveland watched the kickoff to open the 4A state playoffs fly into the end zone, then proceeded to push Ponderosa all over the field for the next 80 yards. It took the Indians 15 plays to do it, they chewed 6: 28 off the clock and the heavily featured Zach Weinmaster popped into the end zone from 1-yard out.

"I think we wanted to do that because that's who we are, and defense wins championships," LHS coach Wayne McGinn said. "Our defense, we held a good team that averaged 43 points a game to 6. Then you have the offense kick it, because they're a good defense, too."

The Indians' defense followed with a three-and-out, those in the crowd could already hear the music piping.

It was the opening act and the encore all at once, leading to a dominant 31-6 victory that sends 11-0 Loveland to the quarterfinal round to face the winner of Saturday's Windsor-Broomfield matchup.

Weinmaster already had played a full game by normal standards as the teams headed to their locker rooms at halftime. The junior had 26 carries in the first 24 minutes, covering 126 yards and producing two touchdowns. Not that he was done.

Not by a long shot.

By the time he had inflicted enough damage, he had run the ball 41 times for 194 yards and a trio of 1-yard scoring runs. He can't remember ever running the ball that much, and an ice bath on Saturday may hit the spot, but he was feeling pretty spry after the contest.

"I'm definitely going to be sore tomorrow, but I work all summer for it, so I'm happy," he said.

The number of carries surprised even the coaching staff, but McGinn went with the hot hand.

"Hey, I'm an old running back," he joked. "I'm not opposed to that. He sees the hole and he just hits it."

Like a smart running back, Weinmaster gave credit to the guys up front, who spent most of the evening pushing the Mustangs front seven back, almost assuring positive yardage on every play.

"Our line. I mean, they work their butts off every day," Weinmaster said. "They're not the biggest guys, but they're definitely the most physical."

Trey Cardenas added to the damage with a 30-yard scoring run, and when the Indians did fail to punch it in from the red zone, Cody Rakowsky was on hand to drill a 24-yard field goal.

Riley Kenny was good when the Indians elected to throw, hitting 3 of 6 tosses for 69 yards, most coming on a 42-yarder to Rakowsky to set up Weinmaster's final touchdown. He also added 96 yards on the ground.

In the end, the Indians would punish Ponderosa for the win, running the ball 65 times for 366 yards.

Ponderosa found no success on the ground, forced to depend on the arm of Sterling Ostdahl, who had thrown for more than 1,500 yards with 20 touchdowns on the season. He'd add to the total with a 4-yard strike to Chris Shaw, but that was the lone highlight, because he added more to his interception total.

Isiah Meyers, who dropped a pick in the first half, made up for it with three in the final two quarters. The Indians only sacked Ostdahl once, but they applied enough pressure to keep him from setting his feet on most of his throws.

"Watching on film, you could learn their routes," Meyers said. "I knew that comeback would come a lot, where they come maybe 2 yards past the sticks and they throw it. On the one, he was rolling out, saw him look at the comeback and I jumped the other one. It was just a lot of watching film to get prepared for that."

While the offense was prepared to say it was open for business, the defense for the Indians is aiming to hang a closed sign on the window. Forcing a team to abandon the run while creating turnovers makes a statement of its own.

It also set up the offense, which turned his first two thefts into 10 points.

"We've been trying to be the best defense all year," Meyers said. "We want to be recognized as the best defense all year, and putting a team like that that averages 44 points a game and holding them to 6 feels great."

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